Go Learn balance danialson!

jmumme · May 1, 2005

What do you guys think about balancing the wheels on a dirt bike?
I noticed some large weights on a dual sported Husaberg. When I enquired about them I was told that from 40+ mph without a computer balance the wheel(s) will hop causing you to loose contact with the road/terrain. It made sense to me. I sure would like my wheels to stay on the ground at speed in the dirt as well.
Thoughts?
Thanks

Barry · May 1, 2005

If you ride that fast, it makes sense to me. I don't balance my tractor tires, but I don't run the beast over 10mph either. If you go as far as balancing the wheel assembly, you may want to determine the "fat/heavy" and "skinny/light" points of both the wheel assembly and the tire. Then mate the light of one with the heavy of the other when mounting the two together. Then balance the wheel tire assembly. It will take less weights as the "fat" will offset the "skinny" of each other, if that makes any sense.

Barry

Taffy · May 2, 2005

to balance the wheels of the classic road racers-or clunkies as we call them!-you roll soldering wire around the spokes.

i balance my wheels by sticking the spindle through them and just letting the wheel roll.

regards

Taffy

oldberger · May 2, 2005

Taffy said:
to balance the wheels of the classic road racers-or clunkies as we call them!-you roll soldering wire around the spokes.

i balance my wheels by sticking the spindle through them and just letting the wheel roll.

regards

Taffy

Same here... I've not done the Berg wheels yet though but I will when I replace the shot rear wheel bearings.

Though it's the front wheel that'll cause the problems with patter due to imbalance.

oldberger :roll:

jmumme · May 2, 2005

I could see the solder trick working. But the weight that was on it was about 5 inches long. That's allot of lead.. I agree that the front is more critical than the rear.

I have been averaging 27mph on a race/ride. So, it would be nice to have the front wheel on the ground more that "pattering?"

thanks for the feedback.. I guess I'll spend the $15 to have the wheels balanced.
One more thing.. Would it be safe then to balance the wheel with the rim lock only. Then marking the permanent rim lock location. thus avoiding the balancing after each new tire. I'm sure it would be off a bit, maybe some solder at this point. but at least it would be more balanced than without.
Have a nice day!

DaleEO · May 2, 2005

Gentlemen,

Have you ever noticed that little yellow circle on the side of the front tire? That little yellow circle is supposed to be lined up with the valve stem for balance reasons.

If you want to balance your wheels, I'm with Taffy on this one. That's how I used to balance my shifter Kart wheels. Talk about RPM, can you imagine a 6" diameter wheel @ 110mph? I used to know what the RPM was on a wheel that size when I was racing them, but, I've slept a few times since then so I don't quite remember, but, I do remember that it was allot!!

Another thing to consider before going to the trouble of balancing your wheels is to make sure they are true, IE round. You'd be surprised at how out of round a wheel can be, and no amount of balancing is going to cure that hop.

velosapiens · May 2, 2005

i wouldn't lose too much sleep over getting it absolutely perfect. on my klx, i just put some lead balance weights (i think 3oz total, glue on) opposite the rimlock on both wheels and called it good. i can't detect any wobble or imbalance on the road. previously it was fairly annoying on pavement.

on my real dirt bikes, i can feel it on the road but i can't feel anything at all on the dirt, and i don't ride much on pavement, so i don't worry about it.

mw

steve · May 2, 2005

Years ago I fitted my first ever tubless tyre to the front of my then GPZ 1100 B2. Then got access to an on vehicle balancer. Locked the bike down on the centre stand and spun it up. The speedo read about 130 km/h and the front wheel moved back and forth with fork flex about 20 mm at the axle. 1/4 oz sticky lead weight fixed it. Scary.

To balance the rim lock you need a lot of weight, 2 rim locks can help and as pointed out by DaleEO truing the wheel is a useful thing to do as well.

Steve

Go Learn balance danialson!

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